By José Alberto Hermosillo
AFI FEST REVIEW: “Pompei: Below the Clouds” is a remarkable achievement in filmmaking, a complex and poetic masterpiece.
Gianfranco Rosi’s acclaimed documentary skillfully weaves together the narratives of archaeologists, law enforcement, young students, a retired teacher doing homework in an old bookstore, an underground preservationist, black-market traffickers, and the engaged community of Naples, Italy.
According to Mr. Rosi, “Naples is a complex city that reflects on what it is, what it was, and what it will be.”
People usually go about their daily lives— but when a chance becomes a necessity and a tremor strikes from nearby Vesuvius or the active Capri Flegrei volcanoes, the emergency services, police and fire department work together to meet the community’s emotional needs and bring calm, whether by phone or in person, by addressing people’s anxiety as humanely as possible. When people feel the need to connect out of fear, it is always precarious.
In the Neapolitan universe, the centuries-old ancient city of Pompei plays an important role in the lives of residents in the area. The greed of the Gomorra mafia, which controls the town’s economy, allows it to steal priceless Roman sculptures and break them into dozens of pieces that are hard to restore and easy to smuggle out of the country.
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As this exquisite and somber black-and-white multilinear story unfolds, locals, tourists, educators in a bookshop helping kids with homework, worshippers, Japanese archaeologists, and students meticulously excavating in the fields resurface statues, fragments, and ruins. Then, Ukrainian and Syrian sailors delivering grain in enormous barrels create a moment of trust, something close to Babel’s tower, in analytical thinking.
The volcano destroyed the city of Pompei, yet it also preserved part of its history underground, where archaeologists and bandits work to bring the remains to the surface in their own ways. For example, one with science, the others do so recklessly.
The award-winning documentary was part of the Official Selection at the Venice Film Festival, La Biennale 2025, where it earned the Environmentalist Award and a special mention for Mr. Rosi for the Treatment of Issues Related to the Social Environment.
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| Gianfranco Rosi. Photo by José Alberto Hermosillo, FestivalinLA |
At the AFI FEST 2025 Q&A, the accomplished Gianfranco Rosi (“In Viaggio: The Travels of Pope Francis,” “Notturno,” “Fire at Sea”) explains that he often begins filming without knowing where the story will take him - the narrative unfolds from the locations, the people, and all the other possible scenarios.
He chose a monochromatic palette to enhance the narrative’s poetic quality, an element that seamlessly bridges the present and the past in a timeless documentary.
Rosi’s filmmaking style is observational and poetically presents reality, often described as cinéma vérité. The problem is that Rosi does not believe in the genre in which everyone performs on camera. Gianfranco Rosi believes that cinéma vérité is “a manipulation of reality shown to the viewer,” and he does not want to be contaminated by those ideas, labeled, or boxed. This is completely fair for an experienced filmmaker at his level who does everything himself, giving him full control over his work and, above all, freedom of expression that every artist struggles to find.
There is an old movie theater that is falling apart, located near the ancient port of Pompei, a few kilometers from Naples, beneath the volcano. The owners let him use the theater for his project. There, he found clips which he projected onto the big screen. For him, film is also an archaeological find, evoking memories of the many movies made in the city and metaphorically linked to ancient Pompeii.
While attending NYU Film School, Gianfranco initiated a project focused on retirees in Miami. During that period, a colleague suggested creating a documentary in Naples. Following that advice, he spent three years producing “Below the Clouds” in that Italian region.
Born in Asmara, Eritrea, to Italian parents, he lived in Turkey and Italy before attending college in the United States. In the field,
Gianfranco Rosi operates autonomously, occasionally collaborating with an assistant to form a formidable team.
The work he does with his editor, the consultant, and the producer is incredible. It is a metaphorical transformation of reality that elevates “Pompei: Below the Clouds” to a heightened sense of universality.
In most of his films, he follows five to six storylines. In his latest project set in the Port of Napoli, he has 10 shorts intertwined, raising the complexity of “Below the Clouds” to a higher standard of difficulty and, at the same time, creativity.
The Italian documentary is comparable to a musical score, with elements of silence. Find the right moment to leave everything in suspense and then cut, like the combinations of the Rubik’s Cube. He likes to leave everything open to interpretation for the audience.
The collaboration with Academy Award-winning composer Daniel Blumberg (“Brutalists” and “The Testament of Ann Lee”) was close and productive. They worked together for two weeks in his London studio, recording with the saxophone and other instruments that gave his work an atmospheric touch of nostalgia and melancholy.
The only thing Gianfranco believes is on the frame and the person, cinematically speaking. For someone watching the documentary, it will feel like floating, with compelling camerawork and fantastic music, suspended in time and immersed in the Neapolitan community that preserves its past and its modern-day existence.
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| Gianfranco Rosi & critic José Alberto Hermosillo, FestivalinLA |
POMPEI: BELOW THE CLOUDS/OFFICIAL TRAILER:
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